Not that we don’t dream about our piscine friends frequently enough, but we have a couple days of warm weather starting today (the first thaw of the winter), so naturally, one’s thoughts turn to pursuing trout, salmon, and just about everything else that prowls our northern waters.

December is a difficult month if you’re a fisherman … it’s the time of the year where we take stock of the season that just passed and look forward to the fishing season yet to come. A time for reflection in other words.

Finally, the temperatures dropped today in New Hampshire’s north country, and it began to feel like fall. Anytime is a good time to be on the water, but there’s something special about wetting a fly in the autumn.

I know that sounds like an oxymoron, and don’t worry, I’m a guide, so I can say that. The guide I speak of is Chuck Degray of North Country Fly Shop & Guide Service, and he has been plying the upper Connecticut River in search of trout and salmon for his clients this week. In short, things are picking up on the fishing front – get up here, as our season is now only a little over three weeks away from concluding.

It’s changing around here … you can just feel it. That transition from summertime to fall is happening here in northern New Hampshire, and that means fall fishing on the Connecticut River. Perhaps the most beautiful part of the year, and a great time to cast on the river for colorful brookies and browns, and don’t forget about our acrobatic rainbows and salmon too. It’s here.